Portland Trip

This is the time of the year which I have an excuse to go shopping in Portland again. :) I even took a day off in lieu of my over time work during Easter Holiday.

The ideal would be go there Friday night, then shop both Saturday and Sunday.

Just later we realized that it's MIL's birthday on Saturday. So we had family dinner on Saturday night. Can't even go there on Saturday...oh well.

Finally, we take off on Sunday morning.

Had dinner in cheese cake factory again. The Oreo cheesecake is very good! Not too heavily taste.

Since I didn't get in touch of my other shopping buddies. I was preparing to take the sky train to downtown by myself the next day. Luckily, I bump into them when I head back to hotel. They are all "blowing water" (I mean chit-chatting) at the entrance (yeah...no smoking inside). So I am going to meet them tomorrow and go shopping together.

After breakfast, it started to rain a little bit. So instead of walking to the bus stop, one of us asked another guy who is not going to the track event to give us a ride to downtown. Turn out we only have about 3 hours for shopping. And I really hold myself from buying antoher LV bag. End up bought a box of Aveda tea bag ($5 cheaper than Canada) and candle, 2 tops for $30 and another Bebe pants for $35 (after 50% off the sales price). And definitely, I'm going to remember the wives' name (Suna and Lily) from now on. We had some interesting conversation on the topic of marriage and love. And I'm glad that I don't need to speak English this time!

After the track event, we went to costco and a European style plaza and had dinner there. Didn't buy much though.

Overall I think I have spent $260 but most of them are household items. Not bad eh?

Portland International Raceway




Bridgeport Village:


We had dinner in Pastini Pastaria
The dinner portion is just right. Finally I found a restaurant in the States that doesn't serve super size dishes! I love the pasta there! Definitely will go back again.

	Baked ziti with grilled Italian sausage $8.95 Hearty ziti al forno with our grilled Italian fennel salsiccia and tomato-cream sauce, topped with parmesan
	Bucatini con molta carne $10.25 Bolognese meat sauce with grilled Italian sausage and two of our savory handmade meatballs

Sun Run 2008

I knew the result will not be that great this year. First I didn't practise much (just started 2 weeks before). And I have gained weight over the past year.

I tried to keep my pace, didn't stop much at the water station. Instead, I stopped about 3 minutes to take off my jacket (the zipper got stuck). While the first 5k is on par with the practice run time, the last 5k is mixed with stopping and "resting". I can't even run up Cambie bridge on the last 1km. At first I thought the start time was 9:29am (didn't bring my stop watch or iPod, just use my cell phone for timing). I was excited for a moment because my result would be around 68 minutes. But later I found out that the start time is actually 9:19am....so it means the total time is around 78mins. Actually, it's not too far from my practice run time, since it's usually 40 minutes for 5k.

I didn't take too many pictures this year. And I didn't get there early enough to be right behind the start line like last year.

OK...here is my final result:
ChipTime Overall SexPl DivPl AgeGrade
1:16:06 25819 12013 1654 39.9%

Compare with last year:
ChipTime Overall SexPl DivPl
1:11:27 22801 10075 1409

Pasta Dinner

I seldom cooked Western food.

My philosophy for dinner is definitely simple and quick. I just can't afford an hour to prepare dinner after getting of at 8pm.

Since I'm more familiar in preparing Chinese dishes, that's what I always have for dinner.

But tonight (actually yesterday), I started craving for some Western food. Or I should say, I run out of idea for Chinese dishes.

So I thought of having pasta for dinner.

Bought some Sweet Basil Italian Sausage and a jar of tomato pasta sauce from Save-on food.

Complete in about 40 minutes, here's what I have:

Stir fry celery with garlic.
Tomato sauce macaroni with Italian sausage, top with shredded cheese.
Tea.

What's missing...probably the candle light. :P

Something Blue

Happens that there are lots of car enthusiast in my workplace.
So, I was told that my car has some minor glitch.

Something Old, Something New

As the date gets closer, the excitement is gradually replaced by a touch of gloominess.

It has served as my personal space for the past 10 years. I drive (of course), I sing (yeah sometimes), I talk (rarely though) inside almost everyday. It has faithfully stand by my side, and gone through my "golden years" with me. And I'm sure it's blessed, perhaps with my parents warm wishes. There's a time I was making circle and drifting towards the ditch. I was so lucky that I didn't hit the curb nor go down the ditch. The other time on a icy road, it's 1cm (maybe 1mm) close to hitting the car that parked along the road. It just never fails me.

Anyway...farewell to my faithful companion.













Here comes the new baby...












I'm actually a bit surprised. German car used to be(at least in my impression) plain and dull, especially the interior. And the functionalities are just hard to find/use. But this new series interior, is stylish, yet easy to use. I can figure out most of the major functionalities without referring to the 500-page menu book. I am now more convinced that I am making a not-so-bad decision to break my piggy bank for this.

From Reverie to Fruition

The search process is time consuming, and could be stressful, if you want to find a good deal.

It may not be a wise move, to actually spend that much to purchase an asset that depreciate over time.

But my ultimate desire won, I am going to own a precious possession.

Fahrt Ins Blaue Day Trip

According to the event info, Fahrt Ins Blaue literally translated to 'Drive into the Blue'. Which means a day drive to an undisclosed destination.

Sounds "fun" eh?

We will be given a map (which is just a list of turn by turn instructions) when we arrived at the meeting location. Then just follow the front car, or if you can, follow the "map"! For me, since I'm not the driver, I just sit back and enjoy the scenery.

It's organized by the BMW Car Club of BC. In fact, my hubby has joined a few times in the past years already. It's a good chance to explore the country side, the road that run across the fields in Vancouver. In fact, some cars treat this event as a driving on the local autobahn.

I was hoping to take some nice pictures but with a PS camera, it's not that easy.


While I was inside the car, I took my camera outside the window and just snap, can't even see what I am shooting.




This makes me think of my previous car. Same model and colour. But way more well maintained. The paint is still so shiny and clean.






Somewhere in Langley.










Arriving the final destination, a winery in Langley.